New Copper Molecule Sucks Carbon Dioxide from Air

A team at Leiden University have shown that a complex molecule containing atoms of copper can remove carbon dioxide, create useful chemical by-products, and return to its original state to repeat the process.

The technique appears to be an attractive way to capture carbon dioxide, but is still impractical for attempts at climate engineering, according to the researchers who have described their experiments in a paper published in the US journal Science.

Their studies have also shown that when raw materials are added to the complex, the carbon dioxide is used up to create industrially useful compounds such as oxalic acid.

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This is a 29-year-old Indian scientist in the Netherlands, who has helped develop a molecule that sucks carbon dioxide from the air and could open a new line of research to combat global warming.

Raja Angamuthu and his colleagues at Leiden University have shown that a complex molecule containing atoms of copper can remove carbon dioxide, create useful chemical by-products, and return to its original state to repeat the process.